Hybrid Vehicle Technology

I have a neat leather notebook, the kind of thing one balances on one's knees while taking notes at symposia. My "symposium notebook" got excellent use at the SAE 2011 Hybrid Vehicle Technologies Symposium as well as the 11th International Advanced Automotive Battery Conference.

SAE Hybrid Topics Galore: The SAE 2011 Hybrid Vehicle Technologies Symposium had a variety of topics, even a guy named Simanaitis who gave a presentation of the journalist's view. Also, as a first, SAE followed up with an Electric Vehicle Symposium on pure EVs.

Cars Versus Cookies: Michael Duoba and his colleagues at Argonne National Laboratory have been testing HEVs, PHEVs and BEVs for years. Their excellent work and EPA's are exemplified in the latest labeling that identifies automotive efficiency for consumers. (See "Monroney Reading, Self Taught," R&T, April 2011.)

As noted there, things get complicated with PHEVs. For the first time in the history of personal mobility, the refill strategy—not just how much, but when—has profound effect on fuel economics. A Chevrolet Volt's cost per mile, for instance, can vary from 4 cents to 9 cents a mile, depending on this.

This subtlety is clearly shown on the Monroney label—but will consumers bother to read it?

There are those who advocate cars having simple letter grades accompanied by dumbed-down information. Mike contrasted this with the label of nutritional facts required on food. Which, he asks, carries more consumer significance?

On a Lithium Future: Dr. Menahem Anderman is president of the Advanced Automotive Batteries think tank and organizer of the International Advanced Automotive Battery Conference. He's also a realist in addressing the growth of electric vehicles and plug-ins as well as traditional hybrids. His views are highly respected, in part because he's not selling EVs, PHEVs, HEVs—or batteries. He's studying them.

On EVs and the mainstream, Anderman asks, "Has there ever been, in the modern history of capitalist countries, a new product for which the mainstream customer paid more for less?"

He predicts that a typical EV's 24-kWh battery pack will remain around $11,000–$15,000—even at moderate production rates of 50,000 packs/year. (By contrast, a gasoline tank costs pennies. )

Querying automakers around the world, Anderman judges that the optimal PHEV has parallel architecture (i.e., Prius-like), not series (i.e., Volt-like). Also, it's best amortized on a fresh but not PHEV-dedicated platform. The Chevrolet Volt/Cruze is an example of such sharing; the Mercedes BlueZERO concept, amenable to everything from gasoline to fuel-cell propulsion, is another.

Anderman Assessments: Because of European Union policies, its higher fuel costs, smaller cars and more city driving, Anderman sees Europe having a larger EV market than ours. And, curiously, he has identified that the Chinese home market for EV batteries is much bigger than that for EVs themselves (a lot of them, powered bicycles)—this, apparently, accounting for returns of shoddy home-market products.

Last, Anderman and others at AABC expect an overcapacity of battery suppliers in the next couple years, followed by a weeding out of inferior ones.

The State of Level 3 "Quick Charging"
Level 3 charging, 30 minutes of it to perhaps 80-percent capacity, has real promise to some. However, others—including many at the SAE EV Symposium—thought otherwise and considered home- and workplace-charging at Levels 1 and 2 a lot more meaningful. Several of their arguments follow.

Level 1 110-volt and Level 2 220-volt charging are well-defined concepts, both compatible here in North America with the standard SAE J1772 plug. (By contrast, by the way, Europeans have yet to adopt a standard attachment.)

Apart from its idea of quickness, Level 3 has yet to be codified in terms of voltage or amperage. Several companies have developed hardware of differing specifications. Add to this the fact that installations are more than ten times as costly as those of a Level 2 variety.

What's more, specialists are still at odds with regard to a preferred Level 3 plug. The Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i have optional quick-charge ports of Japanese Chademo configuration. By contrast, SAE proposes a connector that overlaps in part with a J1772 plug. Chademo, by the way, has a neat etymology: It derives from CHAdeMO, an abbreviation of "charge de move," also a pun for the Japanese "How about some tea?"

Aspects of car-to-source communication protocol as well as the charging itself make these differences all the more non-trivial. Even configuration of the access lid is an issue: The Nissan Leaf's is commensurately larger to accommodate both Chademo and J1772 ports. The Mitsubishi i has two separate flaps, one per vehicle flank, of standard size and shape.

There's also the question of premature battery aging in response to quick charging's accelerated chemical activity. Some degradation would be expected, but it's unknown just how much. And, as one specialist noted, with consumers used to gasoline fill-ups in a tenth the time, "quick charging" in 30 minutes isn't all that quick anyway.

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